Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 137: To ask the Taoiseach the number of persons in the State with no formal educational qualifications as compared to other jurisdictions; the number of persons in the State with a third level qualification as compared to other jurisdictions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31947/10]

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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The Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) in Ireland and similar surveys across the EU collect information on the highest level of education attained by individuals. The group normally used for these comparisons is adults aged 25-64 years inclusive. Those aged under 25 years are not included as large numbers of people aged under 25 will not have completed their full-time education and thus cannot be meaningfully compared.

The EU Commission (Eurostat) collate data from the different EU surveys and regularly publish estimates.

Table 1 below presents the percentage of those aged 25-64 whose highest level of education attained is a third level qualification (ISCED 5-6). Table 2 presents the percentage of those aged 25-64 whose highest level of education attained is lower secondary level or lower (ISCED 0-2) which is the lowest level of education for which comparable EU data has been published. Data in both tables is presented for the period 2004 to 2009.